All participants wear clothes and uniforms of the 1840s and have trade blankets on display with thousands of period artifacts, such as guns, tomahawks, knives, cannons, furs and supplies. Period crafts of all types are demonstrated throughout the weekend.

The fort closes at 4:40 p.m. Saturday and reopens at 9 a.m. Sunday, with similar activities. The weekend event closes at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

The weekend rendezvous activities are sponsored by the Friends of Fort Atkinson and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and are free and open to the public.

Fort Atkinson was an active military post for the expanding United States from 1840 to 1849. The purpose of the fort was to keep the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) tribe on neutral ground in the Iowa Territory and to keep peace on the frontier between the Ho-Chunk, Sioux, Sauk and Meskwaki tribes and Euro-American settlers.

The fort was acquired by the State of Iowa in 1921 and the Fort Atkinson State Preserve Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

For information about the rendezvous and the fort history, visit www.fortatkinsoniowa.com.